Fox of France

After a while, amidst a creaking sound, the door was slowly opened, and Fouché appeared in front of Joseph.

Fouche has moved his family here since he joined the Hébertist faction. This is mostly to show that he's mingling with those sans-culottes. And after joining the Hébertist faction, Fouché has been very clean. If you don't consider his experience of repeatedly jumping back and forth, just look at this period of time, then Fouche is almost the same moral model as Robespierre.

As for the fall of Hébert, in order to deal with Robespierre, Fouche did not have time to consider moving. After the fall of Robespierre, Fouché lost almost all sources of income, so he could only continue to live here.

At this time, some people around gradually gathered around, and someone shouted: "Joseph, what happened?"

"No, nothing, we are friends." Fouche replied loudly.

After hearing this, those people gradually dispersed. These people are sans-culottes and Hébert's people. In their eyes, Fouché is not a capricious viper, but a hero who avenged Hébert.

"Mr. Bonaparte, Mr. Carnot, it's a surprise to see you here." Fouche said with a smile.

"Ah, Monsieur Fouché, we've always been friends, haven't we?" Joseph also said with a smile, "Why, don't you invite us in for a while?"

"The house is messy, don't make jokes." Fouché made a gesture to welcome in.

Several people entered the room, and the room was dark. It was almost evening at this time. After entering the room, Joseph couldn't see clearly for a while. I only saw a few figures vaguely, and heard Fouché say: "Take the child to the back to play."

It took a while for Joseph's eyes to adjust.

"Monsieur Bonaparte, Monsieur Carnot, do you need my help when you come to see me?" Fouche said with a smile.

"Mr. Fouché, those guys on the stage are too ugly to eat, what do you think?" Joseph said.

"Do you want to launch an uprising to overthrow them?" Fouche said, "If this is the case, I advise you as a friend. At least at present, it is not a good time to do so."

"No, no, my friend, where are you thinking?" Joseph said hastily, "I just want to recover as much damage as possible for our motherland."

Fouche lowered his head and thought for a while, "Do you hope that I can retrieve some things from the military research institute?"

"It's not things, it's people." Joseph said, "Mr. Fouche, you have to know, what is the most important thing about the Institute? Of course it is the researchers. I have a list here, I hope you can help us put these people on the list Get it back. You can tell them that if they are willing to go to Toulon with me, all their income can be raised to a certain extent according to the previous standard. The upper limit of the increase is also marked on this list."

As Joseph spoke, he handed Fouche a list.

Fouche took the list without looking at it. In fact, his room was too dark to see.

"So, Mr. Bonaparte, you plan to rebuild the military research institute? But have you been authorized by the government?" Fouche frowned.

"No." Joseph said, "We plan to establish a private research institute. Of course, the scope of business is the same as before. Mr. Foucher, since the current fashion has become that everyone makes money openly. Let those people make money, Why not let us make money. How about it, Mr. Fouché, would you like to join us and make money together?"

Fouche stared at Joseph for a while, and then asked: "Rebuilding the research institute and establishing military industrial enterprises are indeed very profitable things now. However, this requires a large amount of start-up capital. Do you have this money?"

"That's not a problem," Joseph said.

"Ah, that's right." Fouche said, "When I was still in Toulon, you and your brother had already opened up a smuggling route to Spain, and you must have been busy these months." The smuggling should have brought you a lot of income. However, since it is a business, please allow me to ask impolitely, what can I get from this transaction?"

"If you can find all the people on this list, I will pay you two thousand livres in silver coins. In addition, the gap between the monthly salary you negotiated with these people and the upper limit I gave will not matter. It is your profit. Besides, there is a more important task, to convince the government to approve my overall acquisition of the Naval Research Institute. For this, I have prepared a cost of 200,000 livres. As long as you can help us go Get through the door, and spend less than 200,000 yuan, and the remaining money will be your reward. At that time, you can choose to get cash from me—well, not coupons; or convert the money into shares , join us." Joseph said.

"Joining you, what can I do?" Fouche asked again.

"Your ability, I already know very well in Toulon. You know, the military research institute in the past relied on the power of the country to keep secrets and security. Now, we can't have such power, even if I Using my younger brother’s power for personal gain is not comparable to what it used to be. And if the company we envision wants to make a lot of money, we must keep it secret. I think you are very talented in this regard.”

Fouche listened quietly, without making a sound.

"In addition, we also need to know about other manufacturers' information, which is also very important to our business." Joseph continued, "Mr. Fouche, I know that you don't particularly care about wealth itself. But Haven't you noticed, my friend, that times have changed! The time of revolution has passed, and the passion for revolution has been exhausted. A speech in the street, or a pamphlet, can suffice. Gone are the days of making waves! Today, if you want to make a difference in politics, you must have enough wealth to support it. Mr. Fouché, are you interested in joining us?"

Fouche raised his head, looked at Joseph, and finally said: "I can finish what you entrusted to me first. As for whether to join you, I have to think again."

"That's good." Joseph said, "At least for now, we have a happy cooperation. I may leave Paris soon. Well, for some things in Paris, you can contact General Carnot."

"Okay." Fouche said, "So, can you give me a part of the funds in advance? You know, these things you want me to do need money."

Joseph looked around and said, "This is a very reasonable request. Well, I can pay you a thousand livres right now, and of course you can also choose pounds or marks of the same value."

"Let's say Rifle," said Fouché, "but don't refer to the coupons."

"Yes." Joseph took out a check from his pocket, and said to Fouché, "Can I light the lamp? Also, do you have a pen?"

"Yes, yes." Fouche hurriedly agreed.

Fouche did it himself, lit the oil lamp, and brought pen and ink. Joseph signed the check, blotted the ink with absorbent paper, and handed the check to Fouché.

Fouche took the check, looked at it, nodded, and put it away.

"By the way, Mr. Fouché, I ask you to help me find out about my friend..."

"It's Armand Lavoisier, he died on the northern battlefield." Fouche said, "But it's not bad, otherwise, he would have been guillotined a while ago..."

...

The next day Joseph rushed to the University of Paris again, found Lavoisier who was now teaching at the University of Paris, and proposed to him that he hoped that he could go to Toulon to help him rebuild a research institute.

"Is that so?" After hearing what Joseph meant, Lavoisier thought for a while and replied, "Joseph, you protected me last time, and I am very grateful for that, otherwise, maybe I would have been killed by Robespierre." I clicked. However, last time it was doing things for the country, and there was an element of obligation in it. This time it is different, if..."

As soon as Joseph heard it, he understood that Lavoisier wanted to increase his status.

"Mr. Lavoisier, what you said makes sense, but you also know that I don't have any government funds in hand this time." Joseph first cried poorly, and then threw out a plan.

"How about this, Mr. Lavoisier, you see, we are now doing business at our own expense, but you know, I have a lot of ways, this business should be able to make money. Why don't you use your technology to convert it into money Come to buy shares, and then you will be one of the bosses, right?"

"Well, this is also an idea, but how many shares should my knowledge be converted into?"

The two had a frank conversation on this issue and fully exchanged views until Joseph intended to say that the discussion had enhanced mutual understanding and the talk was beneficial, but Lavoisier finally made a decision. concession.

"Okay, okay, let's do what you said just now. After all, you have helped me. If it weren't for you, I would have been on the guillotine long ago. I am the person who knows how to repay you..."

Joseph was very satisfied and reached an agreement with Lavoisier, then politely said goodbye and left. In Joseph's view, it is really good to be able to use such conditions to bring Lavoisier in. (After all, Joseph came from later generations, and under the influence of later generations, his estimate of the value of knowledge is much higher than that of people in this era.)

As soon as Joseph went out, Lavoisier immediately yelled to his wife who had been eavesdropping behind the door: "Mary, get ready for me, we are going to leave for Toulon! Ah, how wonderful! To be free Doing experiments, and there is such a high salary, as well as share dividends... Ha ha ha... Joseph is such a generous and good man! We can live the life of the rich again!"